Confictions An Episodic Mass Effect Story
by Slakolov
Summary: Follow the personal journal of Kal'Reegar, a Quarian Space Marine and his story. Each release starts with a journal entry, then goes into a segment of the actual storyline. RELEASE 1: Learn about Kal's inner psyche and his thoughts towards some of our favorite characters of the Mass Effect franchise, and eventually seeing his downfall. TIME: Few months before Mass Effect 3.
1. Release 1

Conflictions

January 21st 2186 CE

Migrant Fleet - Kal Reegar's personal Quarters.

I received another message today regarding the fleets new movements, and I couldnt help but notice that we are inching ever so closer to the Veil. Maybe I'm looking too far into this, but it looks to me like we may be getting into another conflict with the Geth. Call me paranoid.

It's nearing that time where I start to feel crampt here with the fleet again. It always happens, my quarters (nothing more than a glorified storage closet) feels like its getting smaller, then I cant even venture out into the Commons without getting a migraine. I'm going to try and catch a shuttle to the Citadel as soon as there is an opening... but that can take months.

Karee' San came to talk to me again today. She was asking about Tali again. It always hurts when she asks about her, I don't show it, but I wish she would leave me alone about the matter. I've only spoken to her once sense her exile, and at that time she was still running about with Shepard on the Normandy. That crazy bastard... I love and hate him. You'll never here me say this out loud but I wish it were me she was running around with.

Tali and I grew up together, along with Karee. We would always get into trouble. We had a good thing going, not really intimate, but we had fun together. Then, I was sent away, drafted, whatever you want to call it, to the Heavy Fleet as a soldier. We still saw each other, but it was always strictly business.

Then it was the mission on Haestrom, I only knew I was escorting a research team, had no idea Tali was involved, but I cant say I wasn't overjoyed when I saw her boarding the same shuttle. We were only on Haestrom for a couple days, but those couple days really brought me back to the good days when we were kids. As usual I didn't show it, but I was happy to be with her again.

Then we got hit by the brunt of a Geth unit, before it was only isolated patrols, but this time it wiped out most of our team. Tali and I were separated, and I watched my squad members die. Of course, that was when Shepard showed up. He saved my life, and Tali's. The way he spoke, the way he fought, I had a tremendous amount of respect for him. Despite falling into a sickness from a suit rupture and tremendous pain from the battle, I was happy to see he got Tali out alive. Then he told me that Tali was leaving with him, and I was devastated, but as usual I didn't show it. I just told him to keep her safe.

Ever since then I've been stuck in a limbo of depression and anxiety. I guess that's why I'm writing this, let off some steam.

February 15th 2186 CE

Kal Reegar was easy to pick out in a crowd. His matte red suit was a sharp contrast to the masses of people in the Wards. That, of course, was how Tali could find him so easily. It was now two months after the Normandy had been confiscated by the Alliance and Shepard was in Alliance custody. Naturally, Tali was in a bad way. She was not able to see anyone she cared about, still being in exile, and Shepard was locked up. So she came to the Citadel, as Kal did, to get away from the rest of the Galaxy.

Tali had spent the last few days drifting in the back corner of bars alone, and watching the fish on the Silversun Strip. She was walking to Flux to get a drink when she saw Kal. He was sitting just inside an alley between two buildings in the shade, with his head buried in his palms. He looked bad, there were scratches all over his suit, and it was stained. Tali froze in the crowd when he saw him.

"Keelah..." Tali mumbled to herself as she began to run to the alley. Kal could hear the footsteps and looked up, realizing who it was he tried to stand at attention, but failed miserably. He stood up fast only to lose his ballance and fall forward into a garbage disposal unit, the backward again onto the floor. He put his hand on his knee and forced himself back up as Tali stopped in front of him.

"Ma'am." Kal spoke softly.

"Reegar... Are you okay?" Tali reached out and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Fine. I'm on uh... leave, what are you doing here?" Kal's voice was shaky, he sounded like he might pass out.

"It's a long story... why don't we find some place we can be alone? Are you staying anywhere?" Tali tried to sound happy to see him, but she was concerned, he's never looked like this before.

"No, I've been uh..." Kal trailed off and looked at the ground. Tali stood closer to him and lifted his helmet up so he could look at her.

"What happened?"

"Nothing Ma'am-"

"Don't give me that!" Tali stepped back and Kal just looked at the floor. They stood there in the dark for some time before a Salarian C-sec officer came by.

"Hey! That's a restricted area!"

"Where does it say that?" Tali said as she looked at him.

"It's common knowledge!"

"How can you expect it to be common knowledge if its not posted anywhere?"

"You goddamn suit-rats think you can go as you please because 'oooh my pilgrimage oooh' Well let me tell you something! You don't belong here! Nobody wants you here!" Tali and Kal just looked at him, and he walked away.

Kal made his hands into fists and turned around to face the wall. He set his head on the wall exhaled. Tali could tell he was holding something back.

"Come on... let's go find a place more private?" Tali spoke softly and put her hand on his shoulder again. Kal always loved when she did that. So, they walked in silence to a boarding house on the far side of Zakera Ward. It was a lousy place, and the rooms they rented out were nothing more than a bed and bathroom, but it would have to do. Tali put down the credits for one night.

Kal was in bad shape, he had to lean on Tali to make it to the room, and when they entered he simply collapsed on the small bed.

"Get some rest. We'll talk later." Tali said as she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Tali looked at herself in the mirror, and thought about Reegar. What happened to him? She stood there for a while, just thinking to herself. After some time had passed, she left the bathroom to see Kal awake standing by the large window that took up the entirety of the back wall. She walked over and stood next to him.

"I wanted to apologize, Ma'am. What you saw is..." Kal spoke in his normal, calm tone.

"You didn't nothing wrong, Kal. Just tell me what happened." Tali said.

"Nothing. I came to the Citadel two days ago, just needed to get away for a little while."

"So you..."

"Drank myself halfway to death? Pretty much."

"I figured that was the case." Tali smiled under her helmet. They stood there looking down on the street below for a little while.

"I missed you." Tali said, finally. Kal looked at her.

"I missed you too." Tali hugged him, and he put his hand on her head as she buried it in his chest. To Reegar's dismay, Tali slipped away and sat on the bed. He sat beside her.

"So, what are you doing here then?" Kal said.

"Well, there's nowhere else for me to go, really."

"What do you mean?"

"The Normandy was grounded, and Shepard was taken into Alliance custody.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, I guess they figured the SR2 was their property even though Cerberus built it. I haven't seen him in three months, the wont even let me talk to him."

"I'm sorry, that's rough."

"Yeah..." Tali looked down and rubbed her hands together, "I don't know if I'll see him again."

"Serious? Where will you go?"

"I don't know! I have nowhere to go!"

"Hey..." Reegar went to put his hand on her back. Tali fell into his lap and sat there. Reegar rubbed her shoulder as she wept. They were like that for a while.

"Why dont we just stay here? Together?" Kal said after many minutes had passed. Tali sat back up next to him and looked at him.

"What?"

"Let's just stay here, the two of us."

"I don't know..." Kal just looked at her, waiting for an answer. "I need to think about it."

"Fair enough. Be right back." Kal stood up and headed for the bathroom.

"Kal?" Tali turned around and said to him.

"Ma'am?"

"Thanks."

Kal nodded and went into the bathroom and sealed the door. He looked around then saw himself in the mirror. He understood why Tali was so worried about him. His suit was battered pretty good, he rememberd getting in a fight the night before with some Batarians, but he didnt remember what it was about. Kal always though that the other species of the Galaxy always over-glorified Quarians taking off there masks. Quarians go for weeks or even months at a time without taking them off. Kal hit the seal release on the side of his helmet and took of his mask. The pale purple of his skin was covered by a thick amount of facial hair, the mose that could grow inside of a suit. His black hair was greasy and stretched down to his shoulders. He let in one large breath, and put the mask back on and sealed it. He opened the bathroom door to find Tali standing there, doing that thing where she rubs her hands together.

"Ma'am?"

"I've made up my mind..."

"And?"

"I want-" Just then a loudspeaker went off near the door, the nasally voice of the Volus who worked at the front desk was talking into it.

"Uhhh, you have some _urgent _guests here, they want to see you immediatly." Reegar went to open the door just as Tali tried to reach out and stop him.

Just as Kal opened the door four armed Quarians rushed into the room, and cleared it systematically. "Clear!" One of the Quarians shouted. Just after, Admiral Koris entered the room and stood in front of Kal and Tali.

"Sir...?" Kal started to say.

"You two are both needed back at the fleet immediatly. Grab your things. We are leaving now."

"Sir, whats going on? What about her exile?"

"No time Reegar, we're about to go into the Veil."

"Whaat?" Tali said.

"We're retaking Rannoch." The admiral said, then left the room as the four other Quarians were behind him. Kal looked at Tali.

"So much for that idea." He said.

"Erm, yeah. We should get moving."

They followed the other Quarians out of the boarding house and saw that there were two shuttles waiting outside. One of the Quarians ran over to Tali;

"Admiral Xen is requesting you come aboard her ship, this way." He directed her to the second shuttle, and she followed. Reegar went to the first and found that the rest of his squad was waiting for him. Kal looked to the other shuttle and saw Tali looking back at him. He nodded to her and got in the shuttle.

As he sat down, he already felt the anger rush back into his head. He made a fist and slammed it against the bulkhead beside him.


	2. Release 2

Conflictions Release Two

March 15th 2186 CE

Patrol Fleet - Marine Barracks

I have some time so I figured I'd continue this damn journal. It helped me calm down the last time I wrote, at least for a little while. I've been stationed with the Patrol Fleet for the time being, doing some quick operations against Geth servers in the Far Rim. Officially, we have not started the war yet, but that's bullshit. The purpose of these ops is to get some more Geth tech for Admiral Xen, as if she doesn't have enough. Call me paranoid but I think that's a horrible idea seeing as the Geth were able to take over one of our ships the last time we toyed with their technology this much. But then again, Admiral Zorah was a little crazy.

Speaking of Zorah, I'm still going mad over what happened with Tali a couple months back on the Citadel. We could've had it so good...

I cant think about that right now. I've got another briefing soon. Damn I hate this war.

March 17th 2186 CE

Gotha – Far Rim

INTELLIGENCE REPORT: GOTHA

A dwarf planet,Gotha has a pressure-cooker atmosphere that brings its surface temperature to a scorching level. Carbon dioxide and ethane are plentiful in the planet's hazy atmosphere.

There has been speculation in the mining community about whether all of the precious metals were mined by the quarians before they fled the system some three centuries ago. Rumors abound that anyone who could brave the geth in the system could find lodes of naturally occurring diamonds on Gotha, but this is likely just a starship legend.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Gotha is in geth space. All civilian traffic is prohibited.

Kal'Reegar and his squad of five other Migrant Fleet Marines were pinned down in a cluster of rubble just outside an old mining facility used by the Quarians before the Geth drove them out three centuries prior. According to Patrol Fleet intelligence, this facility was only supposed to have minimal Geth resistance. They were wrong.

Kal's squad had made it all the way up to maybe 100 meters away from the main entrance to the facility that was mostly underground before they came under heavy fire from multiple Geth Spitfires. None of his squad were downed in the initial volley of fire, but they were pinned and suppressed in cover that was easily being chipped away by the Geth's plasma weapons.

"Nahreen! Fire smoke!" Kal screamed over to the squad's pointman who was in front of the rest. Nahreen fired a smoke round into the corridor between the rubble and the main building of the compound where the fire was coming from. The building was quickly shrouded in thick gray smoke and gave the squad a moment to dig in and catch their breath. "Ready up squad! Check clips!" Kal has counted the duration of their standard-issue smoke rounds many rounds before, he had thirteen seconds before they would be fired upon again. Kal raised his M-15 Vindicator rifle and made sure Disruptor rounds were loaded, they made combat much harder for the Geth as it messed with their vision and hearing whenever they were hit by it, in addition to the standard impact of a bullet.

The squad of Marines had their armor painted matte black, Admiral Xen thought that her Special Ops troops should be distinct. What she did not take into account was the scorching heat of Gotha. Their black suits soaked up the sun like a sponge, sure Quarian envirosuits had air-conditioning, but that can only do so much.

Soon the smoke cleared and the fire began again, but this time the Marines were dug in and could easily pick out targets. The Geth still had a better position, but the time of the smoke grenade gave the Quarians a fighting chance. Each Marine fired quick bursts at specific targets, usually destroying a single Geth unit in each burst.

The firefight went on like this for only a minute before the Geth troops fell back deeper into the underground complex, and the Quarians only took one hit. Fract'Raara, the squads engineer had a suit puncture from a Geth plasma rifle, but he would be okay. Kal signaled the squad to rally up at the large entrance of the complex, they stacked up on wither side of the towering cargo doors.

"Alright squad, our mission is to plant that explosive on the main support column, then we book it out of here. So lets get it done!" Kal shouted just before they breached the large doors and cleared the lobby. It was empty besides a few disabled Geth. Kal once again signaled his squad to stack up at the door across the lobby, that lead to the mines. They bypassed the door and it slid back into its slot quickly, revealing a dark corridor. Kal craned his head around the wall to look down it, and saw nothing. "Flashlights."

The entire squad descended the hall with quiet steps, shining their flashlights directly in front of them. There were a few side doors, none were open. They kept moving forward until they reached a massive service elevator. The platform that would descend into the mine was completely empty.

"Squad; grab anything you can use for cover and set it up in a diamond formation on the lift, those Geth must have gone down there, and you can bet your asses they have an ambush set up for us." The Quarians quickly went to work piling up crates and dollies into the diamond formation in the middle of the platform. It only took them two minutes to get it done, and they all vaulted into and crouched inside the formation. Kal went to the lifts controls and started the decent, then sprinted to the cover they had set up. He sat with his back to a large crate and reloaded a fresh Thermal Clip into his Vindicator. The lift was slow and made a loud screeching noise as it descended. At first they only saw rock walls reaching up as they went down, but it soon opened up into a massive cavern, the heart of the mine. The main column, their target, was at the far side the massive cave, that's all Kal saw before the shower of plasma flew at them from all over the cavern. The squads marksman, Atrea'Cora was killed instantly, Nahreen took a hit in the arm. The squad hunkered down and took occasional glances at their route to the column, the Geth did not fortify their positions at all, they expected to kill the Marines with no trouble because of the lack of cover on the lift. Once the lift reached the floor, the Marines would have the advantage. The lift slammed against the cavern floor with a bang, and all at once the Marines peeked out of cover to start firing bursts at the exposed Geth. With superior cover the Marines made quick work of the closest troops, but after they were taken down the remaining Geth started to find cover. The squad was outnumbered. Kal gave the signal for them to advance straight up a small corridor between two rock faces. They sprinted out of cover while firing at the Geth from the hip. The Marines filed into the small hole between the rocks, and dove into cover at the far side.

Kal looked up from behind the chest-high pile of rocks he was using as cover to see how far away his objective was. It was easily 300 meters of hell, no cover, and with Geth troopers on either side. Kal squatted back down beside his squad and looked at them. They were getting tired, and only two of them had not seen a suit puncture already.

"Alright... Suggestions?" Kal spoke directly to his squad. He only got blank stares and shaking heads. "Okay. Screw it. Fract, hand me the charge."

"Sir?" Fract placed the charge in his hand and looked at Kal.

"You heard me soldier. Do it."

"What's your plan, Sir?" Fract placed it in Reegar's hand carefully. It was a miniature Mass Effect pulse generator. It would cause an explosion that would send out massive shockwaves that would cave-in the entire mine.

"Plan?.. uhhh... You guys cover me, I'll run for the column, prime this thing, throw it, and uh, then we get the fuck out of here."

"Sir I'm coming with you." That was Nahreen, just before he peeked out and took down a Geth Hunter with one precision burst.

"Me too." That was Fract.

"I'm game."

The rest of the squad all agreed to come. Kal looked at his men, and nodded.

"Nahreen, pop all of your smoke rounds you got left, in a line right up to the hard point. I'll make a run for it, follow my muzzle flashes through the smoke if you lose me. "

Kal gave the squad the signal and ran over the rubble they were crouched behind. The smoke exploded just ahead of him, and Kal put his Vindicator on his back and pulled out his Carnifex pistol. He was soon engulfed by smoke, he just kept sprinting ahead, hoping he was still going the same direction. He could hear the bursts of rifles behind him still. He would occasionally see a Geth trooper through the smoke on his left or right, firing blindly into the smoke. Kal would fire back, but he was mostly shooting so his squad would not lose him in the cloud of smoke. Suddenly, he was out of the smoke. Sprinting straight through open air, no cover. Only 50 meters to go.

Kal pulled the charge off his belt and primed it, and put everything he had into sprinting towards the column. The Geth werent seeming to hit him, even though there was hot plasma flying through the air passed him. Shoot the ones in the back first so the ones in the front keep coming. Kal looked behind him as he ran forward and saw the rest of his squad getting hammered as they emerged from the smoke. Two fell, he didnt see who. Kal forced himself forward. He was so close, just a few more paces.

A shot of pain flew up through Reegar's body, making him fall flat on his face. It was flying through him, coming from his left thigh. Puncture warnings flashed on the inside of his visor, warning of a seal malfunction. Kal rolled onto his back and looked behind him. Two of his men were sprinting up to him, the others lay motionless in on the ground behind them. Kal rolled on to his stomach again and started to crawl towards the column. It was getting harder for him to breathe, the pain in his leg was spreading to his chest, and his vision was growing dark.

Kal reached the column and set the charge down carefully in front of him. Kal'Reegar rolled onto his back and followed the trail of his own blood with his fading vision, and saw two of his squad-mates charging to him. They reached him in seconds, bringing the volley of plasma fire with them.

It's set... GO! Kal shouted at them just as they crouched down beside him. Kal shoved the detonator at Nahreen, who was trying to help him up. GO! Thats an order!

With all due respect, sir. Fuck that. Nahreen put his arm around Kal and lifted him up. He put his rifle down and kept up the fire with his pistol.

"We'll never get out... no cover..." Kal was losing consciousness fast.

"Let's make some then!" Nahreen fired a concussive shot at the ceiling of the cavern in front of them and a shower of boulders fell down from the heavens, smashing into the open ground between them and the lift, taking out some Geth in the process. Fract ran ahead of Nahreen and Kal through the newly created gauntlet of cover, clearing it for them to proceed. Not halfway through did Kal start wheezing and tripping over himself.

"Whats wrong with him?" Fract shouted over his shoulder.

"His suit must have failed to isolate the puncture. He's getting an infection." Nahreen dropped his pistol and heaved Kal over his back in a fireman's carry. Fract reached the lift and went prone to start firing at the Geth they had passed. Nahreen ran up to the controls and started the lift. He set Kal down on his back slowly and then sat down himself to catch his breath. Kal was coughing profusely now.

The lift rose slowly above the cavern, and as soon as it was back inside its shaft above, Nahreen took the detonator off of Kal's belt and hit the switch. A loud blast flew up through the shaft, rocking the lift. Immediately after, the entire facility started to shake. When the lift stopped at the top the two Quarians sprinted through the dark hallway leading back out to the lobby, Nahreen with Kal on his back. The ground was starting to crack beneath them just as the emerged back into the lobby. Fract put his rifle on his back and started an all-out sprint towards the door, he hit the switch and it slid open just as Nahreen arrived there. Fract spun around the door and out into the scorching hot air once again, just as the floor of the lobby floor crashed down into darkness.

Kal was fading fast. The pain had spread all the way to his head, every light and sound was an explosion in his mind. A kind of black mass was sitting in the back of his head, grabbing and scratching at his mind. His vision was almost completely gone and it was getting harder to breathe. Fract gave him medi-gel but it only stopped the bleeding.

"Where the hell is the shuttle!?" Nahreen screamed at Fract.

"I dont know! It should be here!"

"Keelah..." Nahreen put his hand to his visor and shook his head. Is he going to make it?

"Not if we keep sitting here."

Just then a white shuttle with the black flotilla logo on the bottom bolted out of the clouds above and descended on the Marines. It landed and three more marines jumped out of the shuttle and gave Nahreen a hand getting Kal inside.

"How bad?" One of the new marines asked.

"Bad. Suit malfunctioned and couldn't seal his puncture."

The shuttle lifted off just as the marines started to operate on Kal. His condition couldn't be made any better on the shuttle, but they could at least keep him alive.


End file.
